York deal with Kittery Water District back on table

YORK, Maine — A mediation agreement between the Kittery Water District and town of York is back on the table and expected to go before the Board of Selectmen for approval on Monday, Jan. 27, according to Selectmen Chairman Ron Nowell.

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By Susan Morse

seacoastonline.com

By Susan Morse

Posted Jan. 23, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Updated Jan 23, 2014 at 4:41 PM

By Susan Morse

Posted Jan. 23, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Updated Jan 23, 2014 at 4:41 PM

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YORK, Maine — A mediation agreement between the Kittery Water District and town of York is back on the table and expected to go before the Board of Selectmen for approval on Monday, Jan. 27, according to Selectmen Chairman Ron Nowell.

The water district is sending to the town its plans for land the water district owns in York, Nowell said Thursday.

“It’s all straightened out,” he said.

Last week, Nowell said the agreement struck during a Jan. 9 mediation was off because the Kittery Water District did not provide York with the correct information on how much land it owns in York and where it is. The water district submitted a plan that appeared to have been copied from York’s Geographic Information Systems record of property, Nowell said.

Nowell wanted a better plan of the district’s land. He asked town attorney Durward Parkinson to contact the Kittery Water District, and since then, those officials have made their deeds, plans and maps available, according to Nowell.

The mediation hearing in Sanford was to settle a lawsuit brought by the Kittery Water District against York over land at 100 Mill Lane on which the district has been paying York taxes since around 1967. The water district wants to get a quitclaim deed to the property since it has no title to the land, according to Nowell and Selectman Torbert Macdonald, who both attended the hearing.

The property in question is 54 acres assessed for $134,500 in 2012, according to information from the tax assessor’s office. The Kittery Water District this year paid $1,350.69 in taxes on the property, according to Tax Collector Mary-Anne Szeniawski.

York selectmen in September indicated they would grant the quitclaim deed if the Kittery Water District agreed not to develop the property. During mediation, the water district agreed to build no more than four homes on land that could potentially hold at least 16 house lots, according to Macdonald.

Kittery Water District Superintendent Mike Rogers said by e-mail last week he could not disclose details of the mediation or comment because the district was currently in negotiations with the York Board of Selectmen.

The Kittery Water District owns property in York for its water supply, including Boulter Pond, Middle Pond, Folly Pond and Bell Marsh Reservoir.

The Kittery Water District owns an estimated 2,382 acres in York, according to information provided in 2010 by former Code Enforcement Officer Ben McDougal.

Nowell said he was concerned about the specific land owned by the Kittery Water District since the district does timber harvests in York. One issue is the quasi-municipal agency sdoes not have a survey of its York land, according to Nowell.